Despite sleeping underneath such a scary face and the imminent difficulties lying before us, I ended up sleeping pretty well the night before. I think the fire sang me to sleep. When the sun was up though, I didn’t hesitate to get Michael and Aidan up. They were glad to have the shelter of the Betamid after the cold night on Challenger’s glacial slabs. We put harnesses on right away and headed out. We found the shortest and easiest way down the steep moraine to the base of the glacier. From above, this section of glacier appears to be more moraine, but it’s actually ice covered with several layers of dirt and dust with an occasional boulder thrown in. Obviously, a lot of rock fall has been falling down from the Northern Pickets and Mount Fury.
Our route would gain the north buttress on the west side. To get there, we spotted a prominent snow tongue that would lead us to glacial slabs. We could then either continue up in the direction of the tongue or go straight up the slabs. Or next landmark was another snowfield with a prominent mudslide in the middle that would lead us up to a snowfield on the edge of the buttress that we dubbed “New Zealand”. Passing under that snowfield would give us access to the buttress crest. Unquestionably the most dangerous part of the route was getting on the buttress. We opted to go up the slabs instead of switchbacking by following the snow tongue all the way up; that way would expose us to more rockfall. The rockfall was fairly periodic, much more frequent than I would like. The slabs were more difficult than we had anticipated. After one unprotectable slab climb, we arrived at a wide ledge where a waterfall was (which we had spotted from below). Aidan found a much easier and smarter way to gain the upper snowfield. Instead of climbing more similar slabs (except these were steeper), we downclimbed about 100 feet and scrambled up easy terrain to the base of the snowfield. While we were getting some water at the base of the snowfield, I heard rockfall and shouted “Rock!!”. I looked up and saw a rock the size of a cooler rotating high in the air 200 feet above us. We instantly scattered, bumping into one another and tripping on the talus. But, we were easily out of the way as the bomb exploded and blew shrapnel all around us. OK, that was enough for me. We clipped into the rope and jumped onto the thankfully firm snow and I proceeded to lead us at top speed out of this nonsense. We gained ground rapidly and were able to exit onto reasonable ground below New Zealand. Michael headed out for the first long simul-climb pitch.
The climb to the ridge was pretty easy except for one maddening section where we were forced to go through a tight gully of snow. We chopped at snow fins to allow passage but this was ridiculously too much work. Instead, if I recall, Aidan unroped and scrambled around easy terrain on the left and I took in a lot of slack and scrambled up the boulder on the left.
The various pitches on the low part of the ridge escape me now. Michael is one with the memory for such things so hopefully his account of the tale will furnish that. I don’t even remember if Aidan took a lead or two. I do recall that when I took the lead, it was the first really fun pitch. I went up a short slab with a nice crack in it and then turned a corner where the climbing became steep but flaky and solid. Back on the crest, however, I came to an impasse. The climbing suddenly became significantly harder than 5.6. Hmm…was I on route? I knew I could do what was in front of me, but there was no protection for the first dicey move and I couldn’t see any pro above that and the terrain didn’t seem much easier until a move after that. I looked to the left but it looked too steep. So, I opted to bring the boys up for a look see.
Michael was up for trying it out. He did a great job at it, but it was as I suspected – not possible to protect well. At least we were there to spot him. Aidan thinks that we would have found a better route if we would have looked even farther to the left. I tended to agree with him after seeing it from above. It looked steep but blocky. Anyway, we were on our way – following it wasn’t too bad. Aidan took over a couple of leads. One of the first was a super exposed but easy and protectable climb directly on the ridge, maybe 5.2? The easy exposed climbing was what it was all about and this section was the first of many that were to follow in the middle of the buttress.
Aidan led two spectacular pitches and then I led two more. I distinctly recall one section on my first lead of the middle buttress. The climbing was exposed but moderate in difficulty and so solid. The route led me right around an overhanging tower to a hand traverse of sorts with few footholds. There was horn after horn for me to sling. As I continued though, I prayed that the route would go; I could not see around the corner. I continued on…it would! I protected it with another horn and then stepped over an exposed gap to easier ground and then up a short step where I brought Michael and Aidan up to.
My next pitch was also fun, although not as thrilling as the previous. It was still moderate and solid. After following directly on the ridge crest, the route dropped to scrambling along talus. There was a snowfield off to the left. I recall that it was in the mid afternoon by now and the sun was again beating down to us. I made for a large tower that would shield us from the sun and belayed from there.
Michael led out of the shelter from the shade up more 4th and low 5th class terrain. Aidan took over somewhere as the two prominent gendarmes high on the route slowly got closer and closer. Between the gendarmes, the route became more easy talus scrambling before it gave way to the final snow arete. We unroped for that section and roped up again for the snow climb. Michael led off for the first pitch. From across the valley, the snow arete on Fury looks ferociously steep and exposed. From here, it didn’t look as bad although once we were on it, it felt pretty exposed again. Left and right fell away steeply. We wisely used our two pickets all the way up. The arete is divided into three segments. I took over Michael’s lead and led the final two. They felt even more exposed and I took the time to make great ice axe and boot placements. I actually swung my axe and the ice tool from the base as opposed to dagger style – it felt more solid plus I could reach farther and use my arms to help pull me up the route.
My pace was slow, but the foot placements were solid for my buds. At the top, I dropped into the moat and brought them up. Michael then decided to lead out (without a rack, oops) up a rock buttress on the left. Aidan and I scrambled around the backside on 4th class terrain. It was a little exposed but nothing compared to Michael’s scary route. Beyond this tower, we scrambled up easy blocks to the summit as the sun began to set. Well, we were going to spend a potentially uncomfortable night on the summit of Mount Fury. At least we had all our gear…not like we had a choice given the nature of this expedition!
I did see a cave underneath the summit with potentially flat slabs on it. That would be a pretty miserable camp cooped up in there like a packrat. Michael and Aidan spotted a small patch of level snow just big enough for the Betamid. I wasn’t keen on squeezing in on the snow ledge so I found a warmer rock ledge of my own about 60 feet below the summit – great views of the Southern Pickets. I enjoyed a great meal with Aidan and Michael. We also melted snow for water. Afterwards, I carefully made my way down the south side of Mount Fury by the light of my headlamp until I came to my camp. I yelled, “I’m down guys! Good night!” - the signal that all was well. I played a game as I went to sleep – I tried keeping my eyes as long as possible while watching the numerous shooting stars. I don’t think the game lasted long, but I saw lots of shooting stars.
Posted 5 years, 11 months ago at 9:09 pm. Add a comment
I arose to brilliant morning – this one above treeline and in the sunshine! I quietly tiptoed past Michael and Aidan to get some fresh water and eat my cheery bar. A few minutes later, around 7:20 I remember, I saw the duo roped up and heading up the Challenger Glacier. I waved to them; we would see them a couple of hours later on the top.
Once we were all up and ready, we clipped into the rope and headed up. The Challenger Glacier was most pleasant. There were no steep sections on it and it required nothing more than roped glacier travel. This is a rarity on this trip! Near the top, the glacier forced us hard to the left up a 30 degree slope to a gentle snow ridge at the top of the glacier (this is where the photo on the cover of the Selected Climbs in the Cascades volume 1, 1st edition was taken.) Getting off the glacier and on to the rock was easy. There was no moat or bergeschrund to deal with. Thank you, Mount Challenger.
Since we brought rock shoes for the trip, I decided that I would definitely use mine for all rock climbing opportunities. We had to wait for the other climbers to rappel down the rock pitch; there’s not much room on the summit of Mount Challenger. I volunteered to lead the pitch which is rated 5.7. However, maybe that’s with boots. With shoes, the pitch was a walk in the park. The nice thing is that there are plenty of pitons that you don’t need any gear other than three or four slings. After a few minutes, we were all on the exposed summit. Actually, the belay left us about ten feet below the true summit. An exposed scramble got us to the tip top. One summit tagged, two more to go.
A rappel and scramble got us back to the glacier where we met the other party on the snow ridge. They were now down to three members as one of the climbers opted to skip the Challenger climb – a regrettable mistake! That would be the last people that we’d see until we passed the weird cult group down low in Goodell Creek some four full days later (actually we did see two members of this same party on the opposite side of Fury as we were descending). The trip now was about to take on a lot of unknowns. We were worried about the descent into remote Luna Cirque as the Beckey guide warned of cliffs, glacier ice, and brush. The trip down from the top of Challenger took no more than 45 minutes and we took a nice break before heading down Challenger Arm.
We had studied the route from as many vistas as possible and had a rough idea of what to do. We’d get onto glacial rock, follow it down for a few hundred feet, then begin a long, downtrending traverse. Other than that, there was not much to report – the route down was quite easy, completely devoid of any scary downclimbing. I suppose we picked a good line because it’s quite possible to get into trouble. But the route was there. The most challenging part was passing underneath a roaring waterfall. The only real danger, however, was getting your boots soaked. After the waterfall, we built a cairn which signified our hard turn to the left which led us straight down to the moraine.
From high above the cirque on the summit of Mount Challenger, I was able to see an odd anomaly in the moraine – what appeared to be a large flat area good for camping. We were making for that and it wasn’t too far from us now. Of course, distance perceptions are frequently wrong and I recall a few ups and downs among talus boulders before arriving at the spot. I threw down my pack and ran around looking for a water source. I was quite sure I wouldn’t find it due to the topography of the area but I made sure. There was no water but the area was very flat and sandy. At least it would be comfortable to sleep. As Aidan and Michael arrived, I gave them the news and we then spread out to look for water. Walking toward the glacier under Mount Fury, another super steep moraine wall dropped away. Too difficult to get water in that direction if there was any (there wasn’t). It appeared that we might have to go back for water or find another place to camp. I didn’t want to give up this spot and we fortunately found water within reasonable walking distance, maybe a quarter of a mile and 200 feet of elevation. We drank a lot of water here and filled up our bottles and headed back up.
There was a fair amount of deadwood lying around and the suggestion of a fire was met with enthusiasm. This was the first time I had a fire in quite a while (since Colorado) and it was certainly welcome. It helped to balance the apprehension from being camped at the base of the great north face of Mount Fury and hearing ice and rock tumbling down it periodically. We committed to getting up with the sun the following morning. We knew tomorrow would be the toughest day of the trip.
Posted 5 years, 11 months ago at 8:56 pm. Add a comment
I awoke slowly in the dank dark forest to the voices of the other party packing up and heading out. I recall looking over and seeing the big backpacks heading out. I went back to sleep for a bit then got up. For the most part, I awoke before Aidan or Michael and usually just lounged around until they got up. After all, “men need their rest and the rest means prone!” Once I heard them stirring, I went and recovered the food from the ad hoc bear line. After the typical spartan breakfast consisting of a cheery bar, we headed off. We knew this day would be another tedious day. Whereas the first was a day of a lot of miles on a nice trail, this one was a only a few miles on no trail, with the first mile or mile and a half consisting of a steep bushwhack. We left the trail and followed our noses up. Lower down, the hiking wasn’t too bad. There was plenty of hiking through wet brush but the blueberries at least made it pleasant sometimes. The brush yielded to heavier timber as the way became increasingly steeper. The other party was in front of us, within earshot, we kept pace with them, for the most part until a most unfortunate account that I am loath to recall – Michael being strapped to the pillory and whipped by the yellow jackets. Ug, it was awful. It’s unclear who stepped on them, Michael or me. I was in the front and it’s a common rural legend that the person in front steps on the nest in the ground and the follower pays the price. Anyway, the problem was that Michael didn’t, or rather couldn’t thanks to the incline, get away fast enough. He must have been stung 10-15 times over the period of about 3 minutes. All Aidan and I could do was stand and listen. We did supply him with 800 mg of Ibuprofen to help with the swelling. Mental note: Benedryl for next time. I thought perhaps the trip might abort at this point, but Michael, being the positive alpinist he is, carried on.
Pressing on, we arrived in denser brush again, much denser than below and we took to grasping of roots, a technique engrained after Johannesburg Mountain, to move ourselves up the steep terrain. After some scrambling, in which I nearly slipped, on some steep boulders, we caught up with the other group of five that had camped near us, although they had lost one member – he had hiked out that morning because he’d somehow lost a helmet on the hike in to Beaver Pass. They had heard Michael hollering below. We ended up passing them and pressing on through the sparse forest. We had finally arrived above most of the trees and the views were starting to open up.
The sun beat down on us forced us into numerous rests. After our lunch stop, where we had our first excellent and sobering views of the north buttress of Fury, we stopped two additional times at small lakes to slurp water. The second one was most pleasant. Aidan and I dunked our heads and dropped our shirts into the water. We took a long break and headed off again. I think the distance on Wiley Ridge is only something like 7 miles or so, but the hiking moved slowly for us. We made the mistake of staying low and that forced us into a lot of cliffy downclimbs. The best approach would have been to stay on the broad ridge crest for the first part (except for the prominent sub peak (pt. 6955) that you see shortly after exiting on to tundra), and then drop down a dirt gully before Eiley Lake. The ridge is indeed block by sheer cliffs above Eiley Lake – we had to descend to it.
A miscommunication in which Aidan and I became separated from Michael cemented the idea to not take any more chances on “shortcut” traverses. After Eiley Lake, we went high and stayed high and we were able to finish the hike to camp relatively quickly.
We arrived above Wiley Lake, which was still 75% frozen over. We moved on to the glacier on the right side and continued up the glacier making for another subpoint (pt. 7,374) just before the Challenger Glacier. It looked possible to pass the point on the left but the map doesn’t show a prominent notch. The left side was sheer cliffs and we instead moved through a small notch on the left side of the subpoint. Through the notch, we went right and up (above picture) when finally led us to gentle slopes which we followed down to the Challenger Glacier. I dropped my pack and ran down the slope and found a pretty sweet spot for us with running glacier water. This would be our Challenger Camp.
We had arrived sometime around 7pm, if I recall. That was later than we’d anticipated but still with enough time to relax and enjoy the pleasant camp before the sun went down. I cleaned up in the glacier water, nearly frostbiting my fingers again after washing my socks! Dinner again was most welcome and delicious. Because we were on big granite glacial slabs, we all ended up sleeping under the stars this night; not just me!
Posted 5 years, 11 months ago at 8:48 pm. Add a comment
